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The Green Bag.

the barn, and came up to the house and said " P. A.: "Hold on! Hold on! Was the de fendant there?" Witness (sweetly): "What's the defend ant?" P. A. : "The man we're trying here." Witness: "He was in jail, and as I was saying, Johnnie says, 'Ma/ " P. A. (ferociously): "I object. She's going to relate a conversation when the deienda.nt was not present." Defendant's Attorney : "She merely wants to state a fact." By the Court: "But she must not give a conversation during the defendant's absence. Just tell what occurred, without repeating any conversation." Witness: "Well, Johnnie came home and put his horse in the barn f' P. A. : "You said that before." D. A.: "I object to his interrupting the witness." By the Court: "Yes; he ought not to in terrupt her. Go on, madam, from the time Johnnie got his horse in the barn." Witness: "Well, after Johnnie put his horse in the barn he came to the house and says, 'Ma, I'm' " P. A.: "There it goes again, your Honor.

after she's been expressly cautioned by the Court not to tell what Johnnie said." D. A.: "I object to his lecturing the wit ness. If he'd let her alone she'd tell the story all right. We're offering this to show the time Johnnie got home, and his condition after witnessing the difficulty, as it may tend to corroborate his statement." By the Court: "That would be all right, but any conversation with her son there would be irrelevant. Leave out the talk and go on, madam." Witness: "No, I'm through. You people seem to know so much more about what I was going to tell than I do that I'm ashamed to tell you what little I know." At the noon recess the Court went to the witness and said: "Madam, would you mind telling me for my own interest, and not as a matter for the jury, what Johnnie said, because there are some curious features in this case I might better be able to deal with in the instructions if I knew more about it." "Why, no!" said the lady. "That's what I was trying to tell. When he came back from the barn, he said: 'Ma, I'm nearly starved to death.' That's all." His Honor thanked her and turned away to hide a smile.